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A brown bear dubbed Mike by its fans has been shot and killed by gamekeepers in a mountainous border region in southeastern Switzerland after several run-ins with locals, Swiss officials said on Wednesday (Feb. 20). How to deal with the bear, known as M13 by authorities, had sparked controversy between gamekeepers and environmentalists far outside the Graubuenden canton, which borders on Italy and Austria and where the animal was most often spotted.

Link: Yahoo! News

Poachers have decimated elephant populations across Africa and parts of Asia, killing thousands of animals for their revered ivory. Yet in Sri Lanka, home to some 7,000 wild Asian elephants, a different, more hopeful story is playing out.

Link: CNN.com

Click on image to see a portion
of Virginia's handwritten letter.

The following was written by Virginia McKenna, star of the iconic movie “Born Free” and a co-founder of Born Free.

Being given a second chance in life is rare. But this is the happy fate for more than 600 primates at Born Free USA’s sanctuary. Most of the animals have been rescued from lives of misery and pain and solitude, but now they can make friends, walk on the earth, climb trees and, above all, be cared for with love and compassion.

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A significant legal precedent was set today that will protect migratory birds from lethal collisions with the highly reflective windows of office buildings. Cadillac Fairview, one of Canada’s largest commercial property owners and managers, was charged under s. 14(1) of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) and s. 32(1) of the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA). In a ruling released Monday, Judge Melvyn Green of the Ontario Court of Justice found that hundreds of birds, including threatened species, had been injured and killed at the company’s Yonge Corporate Centre, consisting of three office buildings in Toronto, during the 2010 spring and fall migrations.

Link: EcoJustice.ca

National Bird Day, and related issues such as birds in captivity and the international trade of parrots, are discussed by Born Free USA Executive Vice President Adam M. Roberts on "The Pet Show with Dr. Katy."

Link: WJLA.com

Endangered bonobos are being sold as pets in the jungles of central Africa, British conservation experts have discovered. The apes, which are close to extinction, can fetch thousands of pounds on the black market. They are caught by poachers in forests in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo and taken to ports hundreds of miles away to be sold to sailors who see them as a status symbol. There are thought to be only between 15,000 and 20,000 bonobos, also known as pygmy chimpanzees, in the wild.

Link: Express.co.uk

An initial chemical analysis on 14 Borneo pygmy elephants that died mysteriously could not conclusively determine if they were poisoned, and more tests will be conducted abroad, an official said Friday (Feb. 8). The endangered elephants were found dead last month in a protected forest in Sabah state on Borneo. Sabah is home to most of the remaining 1,200 Borneo pygmy elephants that exist worldwide. The elephants are feared to have been poisoned because they encroached on Malaysian plantations.

Link: Yahoo! News

Just a stone's throw from two of Los Angeles' busiest freeways lies the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve, a unique spot in an urban jungle. The northern portion of the reserve is adorned with 30-foot-tall cottonwood trees, spots of coyote bush and other plants. Native plants cover 50 percent of the nature spot, says Kris Ohlenkamp with the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society. On the other side it was significantly more than that," he says. A cement corridor leads to the southern part of the reserve. "This 48 acres was the original wildlife area," Ohlenkamp says, "and now it's all gone."

Link: NPR.org